EYE ON Georgia Sales Taxes

Georgia is another fairly straightforward state from a sales and use tax perspective. Sales and use taxes apply to the sale of tangible personal property and some enumerated services. While there are local (county level and the city of Atlanta) taxes imposed throughout the state of Georgia, these taxes are administered at the state level.

That means, there is a single sales and use tax return filed for all state and local sales and use taxes – rather than having to file a separate return for each local jurisdiction.

Georgia requires sales tax prepayments (referred to as “estimated tax liability”) if the sales tax liability of a dealer in the preceding calendar year was greater than $60,000. The prepayment is 50% of the estimated tax liability for the month and must be paid by the 20th day of the month for which the estimate is calculated. The amount of the “estimated tax liability” payment is credited against the amount to be due on the required return.

The “estimated tax liability” is based on the dealer's average monthly payments for the last calendar year. The prepayment is calculated by the state of Georgia and is communicated to the taxpayer in a notice establishing the prepayment for the next twelve months (it is not usually a calendar year). The same prepayment is used each month until it is changed via notification by the state.

The Georgia sales tax rate is 4%. The average local sales tax rate is 3% for a combined total average sales tax rate of 7%.

 Stay tuned for more of Jeff's EYE ON series as he blogs about sales and use tax State by State.